This year in Formula One has thrown up some insane results, however Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix could have been the most bonkers yet.
The race started with a bang, with the tricky conditions rendering the track smack bang in the middle of wet and dry, meaning turn one was always going to get a bit hairy.
And boy did it get hairy with Valterri Bottas in his Mercedes misjudging the braking zone, rear-ending Lando Norris' McLaren and setting off a chain reaction of pure carnage.
The chaos resulted in five cars retiring from the race, with Lando Norris, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, Charles Leclerc and of course the aforementioned Bottas all unable to continue after the carnage.
There were some disappointed reactions to the epic events of lap one.
Leclerc in anger compared the carnage to bowling, tweeting "Nice bowling game. So frustrating."
Nice bowling game. So frustrating.
— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) August 1, 2021
This of course produced some hilarious edits, such as this one.
https://twitter.com/F1EditsTR/status/1421824828806402054?s=20
Lando Norris took to Twitter as well to vent his disappointment.
Well that was a great race.
— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) August 1, 2021
The 21-year-old summed it all up with a sarcastic remark in the form of "Well that was a great race," and adequate response all things considered.
The session was then red flagged in order to clean up the huge amount of debris left on the track, with the pause in proceedings meaning that the surface was practically dry by the time it came to restart.
With this, Mercedes made an uncharacteristic strategic error in leaving Lewis Hamilton out on his intermediate tyres whilst every other car pitted for a set of slicks.
This move resulted in one of the strangest scenes ever in F1, with Hamilton the only one on the grid when the lights went out.
One car on the grid, 14 in the pit lane...
This might be the weirdest start from the grid we've ever seen ๐ #HungarianGP ๐ญ๐บ #F1 pic.twitter.com/tRM5h0gOcr
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 1, 2021
User F1Memes drew a very suitable comparison with the empty grid.
https://twitter.com/f1troll_/status/1422222224979791874?s=20
Nonetheless, the race started and Hamilton dashed around the circuit to box for dries, however the damage had been done with the time lost on the in-lap meaning he re-joined the race in last place.
Amongst the fracas in the pitlane Haas rookie Nikita Mazepin retired after Kimi Raikkonen's Alfa Romeo was released unsafely into the Russian's path, colliding with the Haas and rendering his car immobile.
LAP 6/70
Nikita Mazepin joins the list of DNFs after colliding with Kimi Raikkonen in the pit lane ๐ฅ#HungarianGP ๐ญ๐บ #F1 pic.twitter.com/7lEWIhycuf
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 1, 2021
Based on Mazepin's controversial past, fans weren't exactly sympathetic to 22-year-old's situation
— Irrna Shaikh (@Irnashaikh) August 1, 2021
Amazingly that meant the Alpine of Esteban Ocon lead the race, with four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel behind in the Aston Martin.
Probably even more amazingly was the fact that both the Williams cars of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi were inside the points, with Russell offering to sacrifice his race to give Latifi the best chance of getting a top ten finish.
RUS: "If you need to compromise my race to help Nicky, I'll do it. Prioritise Nicky"
๐ฅบ๐ฅบ๐ฅบ#HungarianGP ๐ญ๐บ #F1 pic.twitter.com/QhyTvjJ6vm
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 1, 2021
The race went on with Hamilton plowing his way through the field in typical Hamilton fashion, with an intense battle with two-time world champion Fernando Alonso one for the ages.
This battle was everything.
Old rivals @alo_oficial and @LewisHamilton put on an incredible show on Sunday โ๏ธ#HungarianGP ๐ญ๐บ #F1 pic.twitter.com/LGqPXTU1VR
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 1, 2021
The 40-year-old's race-craft and experience on show as two legends of the sport went toe-to-toe, with Alonso holding up the seven-time world champion to ensure he could not catch Ocon.
— Eduardo Sosa Rosas (@elesosa) August 1, 2021
With this, Ocon never surrendered the lead from the restart and stormed home for his maiden F1 victory, an incredible feat for a man who came from near poverty to race at the highest level of motorsport.
A brilliant maiden win from @OconEsteban and a superb supporting role from @alo_oficial
๐๐๐ @AlpineF1Team#HungarianGP ๐ญ๐บ #F1 pic.twitter.com/hX3cFHHAPi
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 2, 2021
The Frenchman tweeted afterwards, "I don't know what to write I'm lost for words, we just won the Hungarian Grand Prix i will forever remember this moment !!
"Thank you to @AlpineF1Team without them I would not have make it, and what a drive by the legend himself @alo_oficial he's part of this too #P1."
I donโt know what to write Iโm lost for words, we just won the Hungarian @f1 Grand Prix i will forever remember this moment !!๐ฅ
Thank you to @AlpineF1Team without them I would not have make it, and what a drive by the legend himself @alo_oficial heโs part of this too ๐ฅ #P1 pic.twitter.com/PpbyTOD4oL— Esteban Ocon (@OconEsteban) August 1, 2021
However the action didn't stop there, with the aforementioned Vettel being disqualified post-podium ceremony as the FIA could not take an adequate amount of fuel from his car, meaning that Lewis Hamilton claimed second place and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz moved onto the podium.
BREAKING: Sebastian Vettel has been disqualified from the #HungarianGP, losing his second place
Stewards were unable to take the required amount of fuel for sampling following the race pic.twitter.com/Cbts8m9R0f
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 1, 2021
With this reclassification of results, it saw the Williams cars of Nicholas Latifi and George Russell move into P7 and P8 respectively, securing the teams first double-points finish in three years.
Everyone liked that.
Nicholas and George both score their first points for @WilliamsRacing
And double-points for the team, for the first time since 2018 ๐ฅฐ#HungarianGP ๐ญ๐บ #F1 pic.twitter.com/SSik8xtMxJ
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 1, 2021
In parc ferme, Russell could not hide his happiness for the team he had been at for three seasons.
Weโre not crying, you are.
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) August 1, 2021
Fans shared the emotions with the young Brit on a special day for him, with Matt Gallagher from WTF1 exclaiming "Yep, I'm crying now."
Yep, Iโm crying now.
— Matt Gallagher (@MattP1Gallagher) August 1, 2021
With this, the season has now heated up even more with Lewis Hamilton (192 points) ahead on the driver's standings after a disappointing race from Max Verstappen (186 points), with the third placed Lando Norris not polling points after his retirement (113 points).
Meanwhile in the constructors Mercedes leads Red Bulls 256 points to 234 whilst McLaren sits in third on 133 points, a singular point ahead of Ferrari on 132.
Fans will now have an agonising wait for the next grand prix, with the mid-season break meaning the Belgian Grand Prix will take place on Sunday August 29.